The 18th hole at Omaha's Champions Run is a par 4 that crawls 440 yards up a hill to a slick two-tiered green.
On Sunday afternoon, when the Cox Classic is reaching its climax, the putting surface will be flanked on three sides by about 5,000 spectators packed tightly in grandstands, skyboxes and air-conditioned suites.
They'll keep an eye on the 40-by-20-foot scoreboard. They'll roar when a putt drops and groan when one misses.
“Definitely the best crowds we see all year,” said D.J. Brigman, who won last week's Nationwide Tour stop in Ohio. “The event feels like a PGA tour event.”
But this week, key ingredients to the drama are missing.
Microphones. Cameras. Announcers. An international audience.
For the first time since 1999, the Cox Classic — which drew 102,000 fans last year — won't be televised on the Golf Channel. If Omahans wish to see some of the world's rising golf talent master a local course, they will have to get out of the recliner and buy a ticket.
The change reflects difficult times for sporting events that rely on corporate sponsorship dollars to stay afloat. In 2009, the Cox Classic paid the Golf Channel $240,000 for 10 hours of tournament coverage over the four-day event.
But a tough economy led to a 12 percent dip in sponsorship dollars. A near-50 percent drop in TV ratings in 2009, largely because weekend rounds were tape-delayed, added insult to injury.
The nonprofit tournament landed more than $100,000 in the red, forcing it to decrease its charitable contributions and tap its reserve fund.
This year, the Golf Channel fee rose to $280,000. The tournament board of directors, worried about sponsorship dollars and alarmed by the ratings drop, chose not to pony up. (Cox Communications, the title sponsor, wasn't responsible for the change.)
Sponsorship revenue has rebounded in 2010, but the TV fee still didn't make financial sense.
“It's a decision that hurts,” said tournament director Chad Mardesen. “It's like downsizing your house or selling your car. You know you have to do it, but it's not a decision that you enjoy making.”
National television exposure is terrific for the city, said Dana Markel, executive director of the Omaha Convention and Visitors Bureau. But it's Omahans who generate most of the tournament revenue.
She said she's glad Cox Classic organizers “didn't lose their focus.”
“If they put all of their attention, all of their efforts into raising enough money to keep this on national TV, the event itself may have suffered,” Markel said.
Many professional sports boast lucrative TV contracts in which the network pays to broadcast the competition. On the Nationwide Tour, where 14 of 29 events will be televised this year, tournaments pay for the time slot.
And sponsors generally foot the bill.
About 200 companies sponsor the Cox Classic, spending anywhere from $350 to several hundred thousand dollars. Most spend $6,000 to $12,000. Almost all stayed with the tournament last year, but many smaller businesses reduced their sponsorship.
The pro-am event wasn't full. Skyboxes and corporate tents weren't sold. Total revenue was down between 9 percent and 10 percent.
The tournament usually donates $130,000 to $150,000 to charities. Last year, it donated $126,000.
Mardesen said the Cox Classic “weathered the storm fairly well” in 2009.
Companies that cut back are increasing their sponsorship contributions this year. Skyboxes and corporate tent purchases are up. Last year, Mardesen says, was “a blip on the radar.”
No TV will require an acclimation period, but the players, who will compete for a purse of $725,000, say it's not a big concern.
“I was surprised when I found out last week that Golf Channel wasn't going to be here,” Brigman said. “Definitely surprised.
“But when it's all said and done, if we could play a $750,000 purse without the Golf Channel or a $600,000 purse with the Golf Channel, guys are going to go for the $750,000 purse every time.”
Omaha's contract with the Nationwide Tour runs out after 2010, and the Golf Channel fees will be discussed in the next negotiation.
Jeff Monday, Nationwide Tour senior vice president of tournament business affairs, said the tour wants its best tournaments televised. Omaha looks great on the big screen, and he hopes the Cox Classic will rejoin the TV lineup in the future.
The Nationwide Tour is the developmental partner of the PGA. The top 25 money leaders at the end of each season earn a promotion to the PGA tour.
Omaha is known to Nationwide Tour players for its high heat, low scores and passionate fans. The fifth-oldest tournament on the tour has the fifth-richest purse.
And Sunday, if all goes according to plan, the Cox Classic will name a new champion. He'll stand on the 18th green, calm his nerves and knock in a putt worth $130,500.
Only one thing will be different: He won't be able to look at a camera and say “Hi, Mom.”
Contact the writer:
649-1461, dirk.chatelain@owh.com
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